


Words Escape Me

by hllfire



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Charles Xavier is Horny Thinking Again, Charles Xavier is a Mess, First Meetings, M/M, Musician Erik Lehnsherr, Smooth Erik Lehnsherr, What's The Opposite of Meet Cute?, Writer Charles Xavier, rated T just to be sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hllfire/pseuds/hllfire
Summary: Charles just wants to finish writing his latest book, but, unfortunately, his new heavy metal player neighbor isn't of much help. Charles decides a confrontation is needed.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 16
Kudos: 93
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2020





	Words Escape Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IreneADonovan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [IreneADonovan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/pseuds/IreneADonovan) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2020) collection. 



> Dear prompter, I had a lot of fun writing this prompt and I hope you like it! 
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Charles is a reclusive writer. Erik is the metal musician who moves in next door.
> 
> (I'd love to see this with tetraplegic Charles.)

Charles had to stop himself from pulling his hair from his head as the loud noise of the electric guitar started playing, crossing the thin walls that divided his apartment and the one next to his, the same one that was empty just a few weeks ago, and before that was the house of a lovely old couple that absolutely didn't make any noise. Charles liked music, he would go so far as to say he loved music, including heavy metal, but  _ by God _ he was starting to hate it.

He had hoped that that Friday night he would have peace, that the note he had left at his neighbor's door had been enough:

_ Hello, I'm your next door neighbor and I'm currently working on a very big project that will require a lot of concentration. If you could tone down the volume of your playing for the next few days I'd be very thankful! _

Apparently, his neighbor  _ couldn't _ tone down the volume, because Charles felt like his ears would start to bleed at any moment. The guy wasn't a bad player, far from it, but Charles had to finish the third book of his series to send to his editors in two weeks, having extended his deadline twice now ever since the new neighbor moved in, and he wasn't really being able to concentrate on making the main character convince one of the antagonists to change sides and help him to defeat the big villain while the loud noise was playing around him.

To say Charles was livid was putting it lightly.

He thought many times about reaching for the other man's mind and commanding him to go to sleep, or maybe to stop liking heavy metal so much, but he never got around to actually acting on his thoughts. Angry or not, Charles still had  _ some _ conscience of what he should and shouldn't do, at least when it came to his telepathy.

As his neighbor played an incredibly high note on the other side of the wall — quite artfully, Charles would think, if he didn't want to hit the man with his own electric guitar at that moment —, Charles groaned loudly, staring at his computer and feeling even more frustrated as he noticed he had only managed to write a few lines in the span of one hour, not even a full paragraph, ever since he sat down to do it.

_ He lies on the ground, surrounded by the disorienting noise and chaos that takes over his mind like the worst of the spells, eyes staring at _

Charles couldn't even remember what the character was staring at at this point, but he certainly could relate to being surrounded by disorienting noise and chaos.

After a few more chords of the melody his neighbor was playing, Charles slammed the screen of his laptop down and wheeled himself back from his desk, mind set in confronting the bothering man once and for all, maybe say a few angry words at his face, and go back inside and regret the confrontation later. Right now, he truly wanted a fight.

He left his apartment, furiously wheeling himself towards the other man's door and knocking — banging, more like it — on the wood with enough force for the man to hear him over the loud music. The playing stopped, a muffled  _ 'going' _ coming from the other side of the door together with a slight wave of annoyance for being interrupted, and Charles waited, readying a very mean and full of curses speech for the noise-maker.

When his neighbor opened the door, however, all his words disappeared from his mind — ironically, just like they had when he was trying to finish his book. That man seemed to have some kind of power to take Charles' words from him.

Standing in front of Charles, his neighbor looked down at him with a cocked eyebrow, blue-green eyes that seemed weirdly like the ones he had imagined one of his characters having, a cutting jawline that would make any man jealous, messy ginger hair, and a bare torso that took Charles' attention completely once his eyes stared at it. The way the man was leaning against the door, with one arm up against the door frame, slightly tilted to the side, seemed to show every muscle in his body. To make matters worse, his jeans hung low on his incredibly small hips, no belt to keep it secured, and Charles could swear the man wasn't wearing any underwear under those-

"Can I help?" the man's slightly accented voice caught Charles' attention, his eyes raising to look at his neighbor's face again, catching the curiosity that crossed his mind.

"Uh." Charles intelligently said, seeing the man raise his eyebrows.

_ Concentrate, _ Charles said to himself, shaking his head as if trying to push away the weirdly horny thoughts that filled his mind.  _ You are angry at this man. _

"Right, sorry. I'm here because you're  _ very _ loud." Charles' voice wasn't nearly as angry as it would've been minutes before, but he had at least gotten around to sound serious, even if he had to school himself every five seconds not to look down at the man's body. "I'm your next door neighbor, the one who left you a note, and-"

"Note?" the man interrupted, a frown on his face. Charles frowned as well at the genuine confusion on his face and mind. "I didn't see a note."

"I left it under your door earlier!"

He looked around then, looking at the ground until his eyes stopped somewhere to the side of the door, leaning down — and Charles once again had to do his best  _ not _ to stare too much — and picking up the piece of paper that Charles had slipped under the door earlier that day, eyes reading the words quickly before his frown disappeared and a apologetic expression took over his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see this." he said, eyes raising to look at Charles again, catching Charles off guard. "I was rehearsing for a show tomorrow, but if I had read this I wouldn't have made that much noise."

"Oh." Charles said, because what else could he say? He had been ready for a fight, and instead he had  _ that. _ "Oh, I- It's okay… Just- Well, if you could not play that loudly…"

"Sure. I'll stop." the man nodded, sounding genuine. When he offered his hand to Charles, it took Charles a few seconds to understand he was supposed to shake it. "Erik Lehnsherr, by the way."

"Charles Xavier." Erik's eyebrows raised at that, interest showing in his eyes immediately.

"Charles Xavier. The guy who wrote the  _ Ballad of Spring _ books?"

"You know them?"

"You could say I'm a fan." Erik smirked, Charles smiled back, trying to hide how much that smirk affected him. "I like how you incorporate mutants into the fantasy setting. Is the big project you talked in your note the next book?"

"Yes. It is."

Erik looked Charles up and down then for a moment, making Charles slightly nervous. He had some very loose pants on, an old shirt Raven had given him years ago that said  _ 'I don't hate you, I'm just sleep deprived', _ and he was sure his hair was a mess. Even so, Charles caught the interest — the  _ good kind _ of interest — in Erik's mind as he smirked again. Charles thought that, if he wrote erotica, he could just describe Erik in that exact moment and the book would be a big success.

"Any chance of you going out to me any time soon to tell me about the next book?" Erik shot at him, making Charles' mind stop for a moment.

"I'm contractually obligated not to do it." he said quickly. Erik raised his eyebrows.

"Not to go out with me?"

"No! No… Not talk about the book… I, uh, would very much like going out?" Charles' lips closed into a line. He was usually smoother than that.

"Then we can go out and not talk about the book." Erik nodded, the smirk never leaving his lips. 

"Sounds good." Charles nodded back, shaking his head once more after to get himself back to what he had actually gone there to do. "But, please… Some quiet?"

"You won't hear anything else for the rest of the weekend. I'd hate to be the motive for the delay of the next book when I'm one of the people who are eagerly waiting for it."

When Charles got back into his apartment, there was only blessed silence around him and he was able to go back to writing again, although his concentration now seemed compromised by other things. If the ending of the next book looked more horny than it should, Charles would know who to blame.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kuddos are more than appreciated and keeps an author's soul alive. Even a "❤️" or "+kuddos" are valid and will make me happy. ❤️
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://hellfre.tumblr.com) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/hllfire)!


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